Science in term 2 will once again focus on Biological Science which is the study of living things. Students in Years 3/4 will explore living and nonliving things and the life cycles of plants and animals. There is also an environmental focus investigation on how to improve biodiversity within our school grounds.

Irem and Dilara (4WM) investigating living and nonliving specimens.

Mia and Caroline (4WM) sketching a scientific diagram of a Spiny Leaf Insect

Madison (4WM) completing her scientific diagram

Students in Years 5/6 will complete a Mission to Mars which will focus on adaptations and survival of living things. They will explore and investigate the possibility of colonising Mars in the future. The students will travel to Mars after making a soda straw rocket, build a lander and explore the landscape of Mars using Ozobots.

The students in Years 3 and 4 have continued to work on defining living and non-living things. They have been exploring the life stages of humans and life cycles of plants and animals. We have worked on the life cycles of tomato plants, frogs and butterflies with an emphasis on how particular animals undergo metamorphosis (the transformation or change an organism undergoes).

Sequencing the Life Cycle of a Tomato Plant (Sera 4AU)

The Life Cycle of a Tomato Plant by Cedar 3DW

Year 5/6Mission to Mars

After taking off from Earth in our rockets, the students investigated some of the challenges humans would face if they were to colonise Mars. They also undertook a design challenge in small groups to make a Lander using limited materials. They tested their landers from a height of one metre to see if their ‘astronauts’ landed safely or not. With their astronauts now on Mars, the last two weeks, have seen the students use Ozobots to simulate Rovers on the surface of Mars. The students used visual coding to create a travel plan which incorporated sequencing, branching and looping.

Once again, I am very excited to be undertaking the Science Specialist role this year and I look forward to working with all of the students in Years 3-6. I will be working in the SCART room (room 35) from Monday – Wednesday. Each class will have Science in either Term 1 or Term 2 of the first semester.

Our Semester One focus is Biological Science which is understanding the study of living things.

Our topics for Semester One focus on:

Year 3/4 – Living Things

The students will explore living and nonliving things and the life cycles of plants and animals. There is also an environmental focus investigation on how to improve biodiversity within our school grounds.

Year 5/6 – Mission to Mars

The students will learn about the survival and adaptations of living things. They will explore and investigate the possibility of colonising Mars in the future. The students will design an organism capable of living on Mars.

Xoe, Cedar and Liam from 3DW investigating living and nonliving specimens.

National Science Week this year was held from Monday 13th to Friday 17th August. The school theme for 2018 National Science Week, ‘Game Changers and Change Makers’, was focussed on the scientists, engineers, technologists, mathematicians, designers and innovators of the past and present. There was also a focus on The International Year of the Reef.

All students from Foundation to Year 6 completed various classroom activities with their teachers. Here are some of the capillary action experiments completed by the students in Year 2.

Big Science Big Fun Science Show

Students in Year 3 to Year 6 concluded the week with a one hour in school workshop ‘Big Science Big Fun’ run by Fizzics Education on Friday 17th August. Ben and Sam did a wonderful job keeping the students engaged and they explored Physical and Chemical Science concepts through an array of experiments and detailed explanations. The students were able to hypothesise, witness the effect a variable has on an experiment and observe what happened during the various scientific demonstrations.

The students saw the following demonstrations take place and included a balloon experiment, fog rings, gyroscope, the chair of nails, light, sound, static electricity, liquid nitrogen, combustion and flying

During Term 3, the Year 3-6 students are learning about Chemical Science.

Year 3/4 Experiments

The Year 3/4 students have a focus on dissolving and melting. The students have undertaken a variety of experiments focusing on dissolving which allows a solid to become incorporated into a liquid, creating a solution. The students have also observed how heat causes solids to melt and change states into a liquid. They observed how the melted substance can then cool and return to a solid state.

Epsom Salt Crystals

Dissolving sugar

Colourful Ice

Dissolving solutes in different solvents

Melting

Year 5/6 Experiments

The Year 5/6 students are focusing on physical and chemical changes. The students have learnt how a physical change can be reversed, for example, water can change its state from a liquid (water) – solid (ice) – gas (water vapour) and all of these changes can be reversed. They also explored chemical reactions in a variety of experiments. The students were able to see some of the irreversible changes that occur during a chemical change, for example, a colour change, odour, bubbles/fizz (gas), the formation of a solid or a newly formed substance.

This term, the students in Years 3-6 are continuing their learning about Physical Sciences.

Year 5/6 – Electricity Unit

We have worked on making circuits using the Makey Makey kits. The Makey Makey kits allowed the students to demonstrate how to open and close circuits using various conductive objects connected to alligator clips. When the circuit is closed, the signals are then sent to the computer as commands like a button on a keyboard.

The students were able to use Playdoh and bananas to replace their keyboards to operate online bongos, a piano keyboard and various games.

Education Week May 20th-26th

During Education Week, our school had the opportunity to display our student’s work at Gladstone Park Shopping Centre. Science was represented by the work completed by year 5/6 students in term 1, showcasing our paperclip and pressure switches and some of our completed torches.

It’s been a busy term in the Science room with lots of investigations on force and electricity. The Year 3/4 students completed a number or experiments on force, gravity and magnetism using the Predict, Observe, Explain method to record their results.

The Year 5/6 students made their own circuits with switches and made a useable, portable torch with a switch.